University of Virginia Library

TO EDMUND PENDLETON.

The receipt of your favor of the 29th. Ult.[54] which
did not come to hand till a few days ago was rendered
particularly agreeable to me by the prospect
it gives of a thorough reestablishment of your health.
I indulge the reflection and the hope that it denotes
a remaining energy in the constitution, which will
long defend it against the gradual waste of time.

Your representation of the politics of the State
coincides with the information from every other
quarter. Great fluctuations and divisions of opinion,
naturally result in Virginia from the causes which
you describe; but they are not the less ominous on
that account. I have for some time been persuaded
that the question on which the proposed Constitution
must turn, is the simple one whether the Union
shall or shall not be continued. There is in my
opinion no middle ground to be taken. The opposition
with some has disunion assuredly for its object;
and with all for its real tendency. Events have demonstrated
that no coalition can ever take place in
favor of a new Plan among the adversaries to the
proposed one. The grounds of objection among the
non-signing members of the Convention are by no
means the same. The disapproving members who
were absent but who have since published their
objections differ irreconcileably from each of them.
The writers against the Constitution are as little
agreed with one another; and the principles which
have been disclosed by the several minorities where
the Constitution has not been unanimously adopted,
are as heterogeneous as can be imagined. That of
Massachusetts, as far as I can learn was averse to any
Government that deserved the name, and it is certain
looked no farther than to reject the Constitution
in toto and return home in triumph. Out of the
vast number which composed it there was scarce a
man of respectability, and not a single one capable
of leading the formidable band. The men of abilities,

of property, of character, with every judge,
lawyer of eminence, and the clergy of all sects, were
with scarce an exception deserving notice, as unanimous
in that State as the same description of characters
are divided and opposed to one another in
Virginia. This contrast does not arise from circumstances
of local interest, but from causes which
will in my opinion produce much regret hereafter in
the opponents in Virginia, if they should succeed in
their opposition. N. Hampshire is now in Convention.
It is expected that the result will be in favor
of the Constitution. R. Island takes no notice of
the matter. N. York is much divided. The weight
of abilities and of property is on the side of the Constitution.
She must go with the Eastern States let
the direction be what it may. By a vessel just from
Charleston we understand that opposition will be
made there. Mr. Lowndes is the leader of it.

A British packet brings a picture of affairs in
France which indicates some approaching events in
that Kingdom which may almost amount to a Revolution
in the form of its Government. The authority
is in itself suspicious; but it coincides with a variety
of proofs that the spirit of liberty has made a progress
which must lead to some remarkable conclusion
of the scene. The Dutch patriots seem to have been
the victims partly of their own folly, and partly of
something amiss in their friends. The present state
of that Confederacy is or ought to be, a very emphatic
lesson to the U. States. The want of Union
and a capable Government is the source of all their

calamities; and particularly of that dependence on
foreign powers which is as dishonorable to their character
as it is destructive of their tranquillity.

I remain Dr. Sir Yours very Affely.